NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 4 ROAD TO BORUTO

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto is a mouthful of a title but the game itself speaks volumes with its amazing presentation. Get yourself ready for the Naruto obsessed weebs dream of, what very well may be, the perfect Naruto game. The latest edition in the STORM series, this game changes things up and adds a few new mechanics that I think you’ll be happy to see. If you are looking for a Naruto fighting game that has amazing visuals, awesome combat, and follows the manga as closely as you would like; this is the one for you. Let’s get into it.

Gameplay

The gameplay in this title is pretty similar to its predecessors of the series. You take part in some seriously visually impressive battles in 3D arenas. As you would expect, you spend most of these fights furiously button bashing, trying to put together one of the many combos you saw in the list of those available. There is definitely a skill to this game and it requires no small amount of patience to carve out. With that, you can have an immensely good time once you’ve got it.

On top of trying to beat your enemy down with everything you have, you can also make use of your characters strongest attacks that you’ve seen in the show as well as some of their special transformations, Jutsu’s and awakenings. A few older mechanics have come back into play as well, maybe you remember the wall running from the first of the series. That got taken away for a few games but its back now and serves and interesting mechanical use, allowing players to have one character on a wall, maybe evaluating the scene or charging an attack, while the other fights on the ground. It may not seem like much, but it’s something that many were really missing.

This game shares a few key elements that you can find in many anime fighting games. Be it JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, or Bleach Soul Resurreccion, you will find a lot to compare it to and a lot of those things make the game all the better. This game does also have the mid-battle character swap that you see in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds which is a blast.

Visuals

The visuals in this title are astoundingly good. Everything from the character models and all their different skins, to the jutsu’s and all their interesting visual flares, are excellently rendered and fantastic to behold.

Story

The story takes up during the Fourth Great Ninja War. You basically have you fight your way through that which is pretty crazy for everyone involved. Thankfully, the visual brilliance extends to cutscenes as well, not just the gameplay.

With the Road to Boruto expansion. You are introduced to Naruto’s troublesome son, Boruto. This story moves along with what occurs at the start of the Boruto series. It doesn’t follow for too long as the series is still ongoing, but its nice to see it included and that the Hidden Leaf Village still gets up to all the same kind of nonsense even with the Ninja War over.

Pros

• Excellent visuals
• Story is true to the manga
• Brilliant Gameplay

Cons

• Free roam would always be appreciated